


So F$%@ing Famous

by my_mad_fatuation



Series: Not Even Famous [3]
Category: My Mad Fat Diary
Genre: Alternate Universe - Bed & Breakfast, Alternate Universe - Celebrity, Alternate Universe - Modern Setting, F/M
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2018-03-20
Updated: 2018-03-22
Packaged: 2019-04-05 02:26:10
Rating: Mature
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 4
Words: 12,634
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/14034141
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/my_mad_fatuation/pseuds/my_mad_fatuation
Summary: When Finn's ex writes a trashy tell-all book about him, he and Rae look back on previous relationships as they navigate his new notoriety.





	1. Chapter 1

**Author's Note:**

> This story might be a little confusing because it jumps back and forth between flashbacks and the current story. It should be clear as you read the scenes which it is supposed to be, but if not I'm sorry.

Walking through the Westfield Stratford City shopping centre, surrounded by his security team—something that he was not yet used to—Finn saw the table where he would be meeting and greeting fans, just outside the Primark on the lower floor, and the lineup of people extending from it.

“Are all those people here to see _me_?” he asked his newly-appointed manager/babysitter/whatever-she-was, Ms. Turner.

“I believe so, Mr. Nelson,” she replied without looking up from her phone as she walked briskly next to him.

“Holy fuck.”

“You’ll refrain from using such language in front of these impressionable young girls, will you not?” she added, giving him a brief but stern glance.

“Sorry…”

As he got closer to the table, he heard someone squeal, “Oh my god!” and suddenly dozens of girls—or maybe more; he couldn’t tell exactly—were screaming and pushing forward, trying to get closer to the table without crossing the barricades that were roping them off. He waved at them and the screaming intensified, which frightened him a little, but he just kept smiling as he continued towards the table.

“Remember, Mr. Nelson,” said Ms Turner when she led him to his seat. “You’ve got fifteen seconds with each of them, and that’s it. Keep it moving.”

“Got it,” he said before the rope was taken down and people started streaming towards him. He figured it wouldn’t be difficult to stay within fifteen seconds; how long did it take to say hello and sign a CD or headshot? Not very long, he suspected.

He had not anticipated, however, that each of the fans—predominantly, though not exclusively, teenage girls—would want to chat and get selfies with him and start crying. That was the worst part. One girl even had to get escorted away because she wouldn’t leave, which was particularly upsetting. He felt sorry for them, but also he felt sorry for himself.

It wasn’t that he didn’t appreciate his fans. He did. But the McDonald’s was in his line of vision, and he could smell the grease wafting from it. It was making him hungry and he just wanted to go eat a Big Mac.

Once the last autograph was signed and the last selfie was taken, Finn bolted up out of his seat, glanced at Ms. Turner, and said, “Be right back,” before making a bee-line for the McDonald's.

“Wait a minute,” she replied, lowering her phone for the first time that afternoon. “Where do you think you’re going?”

He groaned when he realized that she and the rest of his security team were following him. “I’m starving,” he said when he looked back at her.

“We’ll get you something on the way back to the hotel—”

“But I’m already here!” he whined as he side-stepped into the McDonald’s. It wasn’t until then that he realized that a bunch of girls were following him as well, and the only thing keeping him from getting potentially mauled was, in fact, his security team. “I’ll just be a sec,” he added, and twirled back around.

Ms. Turner and his security stayed by the entrance, not allowing anyone in.

“Er, what’s going on?” the girl behind the counter asked, looking at the entrance in confusion. “Are they with you?”

“Yeah, sorry,” sad Finn.

“So are you the reason all those girls were screaming out there for the last hour?” she said with a smirk.

“Sort of…” he replied shyly.

The girl leaned forward on the counter. “You’re that guy, aren’t you?”

“Probably.”

“God, I can’t remember your name but it’s on the tip of my—”

“It’s Finn,” he said.

“Right.” She smiled. “Hi Finn, I’m Grace.”

“Hi Grace.”

“Can I get you something today, Finn?” she asked as she stood up straighter, putting on a cheerful customer service voice.

He wasn’t sure why he did it—maybe because she was the first girl all day who hadn’t burst into tears at the sight of him—but he said, “Could I get a Big Mac, please? And your number?”

She looked surprised by his request, like she thought she might be getting pranked, as she pushed some buttons to place his order. “That’ll be three pounds nineteen,” she said.

He fished around in his pocket for a loose fiver and handed it to her, figuring that they were both just going to ignore his last comment. Which was probably for the best.

“I’ll be right back with it,” she added as she passed him his change. She disappeared into the back for a minute and returned with a paper bag. “Here you go, Finn. Enjoy.”

“Thanks, you too,” he said, and then added, “Er, I mean—Thanks.”

He cursed silently to himself as he walked away, but when he looked down at the bag in his hand he realized there was something written on it. A phone number.

***

“Did you read it?” Rae asked over video chat.

“I read the email, but not the attachment,” Finn replied, lying in the hotel bed with his laptop resting on his stomach. “I can’t believe she already has a first draft done; I thought she had just accepted the offer a month ago! She must have been working on it for a while now…”

“Do you think her sending it to you is like a peace offering?”

“How would it be a peace offering?”

“Well, like, perhaps she’s giving you a chance to read it first, and veto anything that’s too terrible,” said Rae. “Maybe she wants your feedback.”

Finn shook his head. “That doesn’t sound like her. It’s more likely that she’s sending it to me as a threat. Possibly she’s hoping I’ll pay her off so she doesn’t release it. But I’m not going to be blackmailed like that.”

“That’s a pretty grim outlook, Finn.”

“I’m being realistic.”

“Is there really anything that bad, though, that she could blackmail you with it?”

“I dunno,” he said with a sigh. “My publicist—who forwarded me the email, by the way, because She Who Shall Not Be Named does not have my current email address, thankfully—he thinks the book is going to be a good thing.”

“Has he read it?”

“Not sure. But he said that any of the more _salacious_ details will probably help me with my transition from wholesome teen pop star to sexy young rock star, or something to that effect.”

“Are you making such a transition?” she asked sceptically.

He laughed a little. “Apparently I am. Of course, my real life is going the opposite direction.”

“Well…”

“Okay, maybe I’m not _wholesome_ now, but I certainly wasn’t back then, let me tell you.”

“Please, don’t.”

“Fine, but you’ll be able to read all about it soon enough…”

“I’m not going to read it,” she told him seriously. “I don’t care what it says, all right? It doesn’t change how I feel about you.”

“Thanks,” he said. “In this trying time, it’s nice to know that I have you by my side.”

“Always.”

He nodded solemnly. “You know what would also really help me through this trying time is if you had your top off right now.” A cheeky smile took over his face.

“Goodnight, Finn.”

***

Finn was not surprised by who he found when he looked through the peephole of his hotel suite after he heard a knock. “Hey,” he said when he opened the door. “Thanks for coming.”

“Thanks for inviting me,” Grace said as she breezed past him into the room.

“I’m sorry we have to meet like this, in a hotel and stuff,” he added, shoving his hands in his pockets. He was nervous for some reason.

“I don’t mind, really,” she replied as she looked around the sitting room in awe. “This is the fanciest hotel I’ve ever seen in my life. Not that I’ve seen a lot of hotels, but still…”

“It’s the fanciest one I’ve ever seen, too,” he said with a laugh. “It took me three days of looking for a kettle before I realized that the room doesn’t have one; that they will just bring me tea or coffee whenever I want it.”

“Well, aren’t you special.”

“I am, though,” he joked. “I’m a _British pop sensation,_ haven’t you heard?.”

She smiled and sat down on the love-seat. “So, is this weird for you?”

“Having you here?”

“I mean living in a hotel, away from your family. It must be a bit strange.”

“I suppose…”

“Then again, you have total freedom,” she added, leaning back in the love-seat and crossing her legs like she was getting comfy to stay there for a while. “No parents, no rules…”

“I always have rules, though,” he said as he took a seat next to her.

“Like what?”

“Like, I’m not supposed to have girls I met at McDonald’s come to my hotel room.”

“Well, I’m not supposed to go to the hotel rooms of famous guys I met at McDonald’s, either,” she said with a sly grin.

“Your parents had to specifically make that rule for you, did they?”

“You’d be surprised.” She laughed a little. “But as they say, rules are made to be broken.”

“Yes, well, I’m glad you could make it, today,” he said, putting his arm behind her across the back of the love-seat.

She turned her head to face him abruptly. “Are you putting the moves on me right now?”

He lifted his arm away from her as fast as he could. “Er, no, I was just—”

“I mean, you have what I assume is a perfectly good bed right through that door, and you’re trying to have it off with me in the sitting area?” she added indignantly, before her expression shifted and she smiled at him again.

“Heh… Wait, are you serious?” he said as she stood up.

She held onto his hand and he stood as well, following her towards the bedroom.

“Ooh!” she said when she saw the king-size bed, beautifully made up by the hotel staff, and took a running leap onto it. After bouncing a couple of times for good measure, she sat up on her knees and unzipped her hoodie.

“Hold on,” he said, standing in front of her as she pulled off her t-shirt, “are you only doing this because I’m…?”

“A British pop sensation? Absolutely.”

“Okay, just checking.”

***

“You know, I gave you your own keys so you could use them,” Finn said to Rae, lifting his sunglasses, when he found her leaning against the railing outside his building in the sweltering thirty-degree heat.

“I thought it would be weird to go in when you weren’t even here,” she said sheepishly.

“That’s the whole point of giving you keys, though.” He laughed and reached for her hand. “Come on, let’s get inside before I die of heat exhaustion.”

“How was Berlin, then?” Rae asked as they stepped into the air-conditioned building, followed shortly by a couple of people carrying Finn’s luggage.

“Oh, you know,” he said with a shrug as the two of them made their way up to the penthouse in his private lift. “The usual.”

“So you didn’t almost dance right out of your trousers and have to pull them up mid-song at one point?”

He looked at her with his eyelids flared. “How did you—?”

“The GIF is trending on Twitter.”

“Oh, great…”

“You might need to invest in a belt, there, buddy,” she added, patting him on the shoulder.

“Or tighter trousers,” he said when the lift doors opened, directly into his flat.

Rae looked him up and down and said, “How is that even possible?”

“Ha ha.”

She sat down at the island while he took a couple bottles of water out of the refrigerator—there was not much else in there—and handed her one. “What time do we have to leave?” she asked before taking a sip.

“I have soundcheck in an hour,” he said. “But you don’t need to come for that.”

“No, I will. It’s not like I have anything better to do.”

He smiled at her. “I love it when girls say that to me.”

***

“Thank you, London, you’re wonderful!” Finn said, cupping his hands around the microphone while five thousand fans cheered and screamed. He waved at them as he stepped away from the mic and headed offstage, where Grace was waiting in the wings.

“Hey, girl,” he said to her once he’d popped out his in-ear monitor.

She just stood there with her arms crossed.

He gave her a quick peck on the lips as the crowd continued to hoot and holler for him, and then added, “Encore time,” with a smile.

He went back out onto the stage and the audience’s applause grew even louder. They were clearly waiting for him to play the only song on his album he hadn’t played yet; his latest hit single. He stepped up to the mic and cupped his hands around it again. “This is for you, London, because you’re beautiful and I love you.” (Cue more screaming.)

The bass-line started, and he shook his hips to the beat, picking up the microphone from it’s stand so he could carry it across the stage with him.

“It started out so simple, I saw you and liked what I saw,” he sang. “But then I just wanted more and more and more and more. More and more and more.

“I didn’t really care at first, I was little intrigued. But then I started wanting more and more and more and more. More and more and more.

“And now it’s taking over my life; I don’t know what to do. It’s taking over my life; I only think about you. I only think about you. I only think about you.”

He looked down in the front row and saw someone with a sign that read, “I only think about you, Finn!” so he winked at her and she started crying.

“I’m a one-note wonder, no one even talks to me these days. They’re just so sick of hearing more and more and more and more. More and more and more.

“I can’t even function, so send me back for a full refund. They’re refunding more and more and more and more. More and more and more.

“And now it’s taking over my life; I don’t know what to do. It’s taking over my life—”

He held out the microphone towards the audience and they all shouted, “I only think about you!”

“I only think about you. I only think about you. I only think about youuuuuuuu.”

He pumped his fist in the air at the final cymbal crashes and said into the mic, “I only think about you, London! Goodnight!” He returned the microphone to its stand—he wasn’t a mic-drop kind of guy—and bowed slightly before leaving the stage again.

He was still high on the rush of the performance as he was escorted backstage with his band, Grace at his side. He put his arm around her shoulders and kissed the side of her face. “What’d you think, girl?” he asked her.

“It was fine,” she said, like she was bored by the whole thing.

“I thought it was great!” he replied, choosing to ignore her lack of enthusiasm. “The crowd was really feeling it tonight.”

“You could show up wearing a paper bag and shout profanities at them, and they would still be ‘feeling it.’”

Her attitude finally wore him down as they entered his dressing room, and he frowned at her while changing out of his sweat-soaked shirt. “Why did you even come if you hate it so much?”

“I thought you liked having me here,” she said as she checked her phone. “Plus there’s this huge thing happening down at The Shadowbox tonight and I really want you to take me.”

“Don’t you need to be on a list or something to get in there?”

She looked at him like he was being an idiot. “You’re Finn Nelson; you’re on everyone’s list.”

“I dunno…” he said, putting on a clean t-shirt. “We’re not even old enough to get in.”

“Finn, letting us in even though we’re underage will be the least illegal thing that happens there tonight, got it?”

“And this is really how you want to spend our last night together before I leave the country?”

She slipped her phone back into her wristlet and gently smoothed out the front of his t-shirt with her hands. “Just for a little while,” she said with an insincere sweetness in her voice. “Then we can go back to your hotel and I’ll make the whole thing worth your while, okay?”

As she kissed him, he thought about how he was so obviously being manipulated by her, but he just couldn’t bring himself to care…

***

“She said, ‘Maybe you should grow up now.’ I said, ‘I would if I had been… taught… how…’”

Finn lowered his head as the last note of his encore performance rang out. “Thank you, again, London,” he said, his mouth nearly touching the microphone. “You’re lovely and I wish you all a safe trip home this evening. Goodnight.”

He bowed with a flourish before walking offstage, to the sound of twenty thousand people applauding him.

Rae was smiling at him as he approached her. “You kept your trousers on this time,” she told him in a congratulatory manner when he hugged her.

“The night’s not over yet, though.” He smiled in return and gave her a quick kiss—despite her aversion to PDA—before taking her hand and walking with her back to his dressing room.

He changed his shirt quickly and drank most of a bottle of water in under a minute. “You want some?” he said to Rae, offering her what was left in the bottle.

“Thanks, I’m good,” she said with a look of distaste.

“What did you want to do tonight?” he asked her once he’d chugged the rest of the water.

“I run a bakery, Finn,” she replied. “I’m usually already asleep by now.”

“So you’re saying you just want to go back to my place and crash?”

“Is that okay?”

He broke into an earnest smile. “That is perfect.”


	2. Chapter 2

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Grace’s book hits the shelves, and suddenly there’s nowhere for Finn to hide.

“Two more of these, erm, these blue ones, whatever they are,” Finn said as he held up an empty shot glass and waved it in the air in front of him. “Fuck it, just bring the bottle!”

Grace laughed into his shoulder, like it was the funniest thing she’d ever heard.

“As you wish, sir,” said the server as she took the glass from Finn and placed on her tray.

He watched her as she walked away, mesmerized by the way her hips fit so snugly into her short skirt, until Grace smacked him in the chest. “Ow! What was that for?” he said, and rubbed the spot she’d just hit.

“I saw the way you were looking at her!” she replied angrily. “We have rules, remember? You’re not allowed to ditch me to hook up with another girl while we’re on a date.”

“I thought that rules were meant to be broken…” he grumbled. “Besides, I wasn’t going to ditch you.”

“You were checking her out, which is the first sign. Next thing I know you’ll be hitting on her and—”

“I won’t hit on her! Jeez!”

“Good.”

“Unless…”

Grace glowered at him. “Unless what?”

“I mean, I’m just spibtpalling here—Spibtpalling—Sbipt—“

“Spitballing?”

“Yes, that,” he said, holding up one finger. “What if I _were_ to hook up with her tonight, but I didn’t ditch you?”

“What are you talking about?”

“Like, what if we all sort of hooked up,”—he twirled his finger in a circle in the air—“together?”

“I’m not going to have a three-way with a _cocktail waitress_ , Finn.”

“What does her job have to do with it?” he asked. “Don’t get all high and mighty on me; you were slinging burgers when I met you.”

She seethed for a moment before responding through gritted teeth, “Fine. But if I do this, then I want those earrings _before_ my birthday.”

“Wait, you’ll do it?”

“Yeah, fine, whatever.”

The server returned shortly with the bottle and some new glasses and set them on the table. “Can I do anything else for the two of you?” she asked, tucking the tray under her arm.

“Actually,” Finn said. “Maybe you can…”

***

“Okay, bribing your girlfriend to have a threesome with you and some random girl you met doesn’t sound like the _most_ morally upstanding thing you’ve ever done,” said Rae after meeting up with Finn at the café in Stamford. She spoke quietly so that no one nearby would overhear their conversation.

“I know,” Finn replied, shaking his head. “But the worst part about it was that I got so smashed on that blue shit that I passed out in the hotel before anything even happened.”

“Oh, poor baby.”

“No, actually, the worst part was that I still had to buy her those earrings…”

“I’ll admit, she doesn’t sound like a great person,” Rae added, fiddling with the straw in her iced coffee. “But neither do you, right now.”

“I was eighteen, though,” Finn argued. “I’m sure you did stupid stuff when you were eighteen.”

She made an expression like she was conceding that he had a point there, but then it suddenly turned to a look of surprise and confusion. And he could tell why, as a familiar guitar riff played in the background.

“What?” he said in disbelief, at no one in particular.

“How did this—?”

“I thought you said they never played my stuff here!” he added in a loud whisper.

“Never that I’d heard!” she replied in kind. “This must be a new thing.”

He looked around nervously and sunk into his seat, trying to hold the neckline of his t-shirt up to cover part of his face.

“Oh, yeah, that looks really inconspicuous,” Rae said sarcastically.

“Look, someone who works here has obviously heard of me,” he said. “I have to be careful!”

“To be fair, I had _heard of_ you, but I had no idea what you looked like.”

“Still, we should probably get out of here…”

***

_“I only think about you. I only think about—”_

“Ugh, turn that shit off,” Rae said, glancing briefly at her boyfriend—who was adjusting the radio from the passenger seat—before returning her attention to the road.

“You don’t like anything, do you?” he said as he switched to another radio station.

“Nothing on the radio.”

“So you just want to sit here in silence all the way back to my place?”

“We could actually talk to each other…”

He kept tuning the radio without saying anything.

“You know, I always have to drive when we go out; why don’t you ever come pick me up, instead?” she asked. She sighed in exasperation when he didn’t respond. “Malcolm!”

“What?” he snapped.

“I asked you a question.”

“You live in the middle of nowhere, Rae. I’m not going to drive twenty minutes out of town just to see you.”

“But I drive twenty minutes into town just to see you!”

“That’s your choice, I guess.” He stopped flipping through stations when he found a song he liked.

“What are you saying?”

“You don’t have to come see me, but you want to, so you do.”

“How else are we going to see each other?” she said.

“Not my problem.”

Rae stewed silently for the rest of the drive to Malcolm’s house. She hated that he was right.

“You coming in?” he asked when she pulled up to his driveway. “We’ve got half an hour before my parents get home.”

She contemplated her options for a moment before turning off the car. She’d already come all this way, so she might as well…

***

Finn walked with Rae to her car, which she had parked a few blocks from the café, so they could go back to her house. (While Finn had been driven to Stamford from London, he’d given his driver a few hours off while he hung out with Rae, and she agreed to drive him back to town at the end of the day.)

Although it wasn’t even all that sunny out, Finn still had his shades on and a baseball cap he’d brought with him, just in case.

“You look ridiculous,” Rae told him with a laugh as they walked hand in hand.

He stopped to examine his reflection in a store window and said, “Yeah, I suppose I do.” He was about to keep going when he spotted something on the other side of the glass.

Apparently, he’d stopped in front of a bookstore, and on display in the front window were some of the new releases for that month, but one of them stood out in particular. It had a pink and black cover, with the words, “ABOUT YOU by grace whitehall,” printed in bold letters on the front.

“Oh,” said Rae when she noticed what had caught his attention. “I guess that’s a thing now.”

“It’s just sort of hard to believe that it’s… real,” he said as he stared at it.

“Well, don’t think about it too much.” She tugged on his arm to get him moving again. “Besides, we need to get you off the streets, before someone recognizes you and starts a mob scene.”

“You joke, and yet…”

“Let’s go.”

***

“Well,” Finn said as he took a small velvet box out of his jacket pocket, “I suppose there’s no point in putting this off any longer.” He passed the box to Grace, who was sitting across the table from him, careful not to singe his sleeve on the candle between them.

“Is this what I think it is?” she asked, delight in her eyes as she took the box from him.

“You asked for it.”

She eagerly opened it to reveal a small necklace, which matched her earrings.

“Happy birthday, girl,” he said.

“So…” she added with a small smile, closing the lid of the box and setting it next to her plate. “Is this all you got me?”

“And dinner, obviously.”

Her expression turned sullen. “Oh.”

“It’s what you told me you wanted.”

“I know, but I also mentioned the other day that there’s a Louis Vuitton bag I have my eye on, so I was hoping, maybe…”

“Christmas is in a few months, though,” he said.

“Well, yeah, but I did see those photos of you out with that model in New York, so…”

His eyes widened, like he’d just been found out. “Look, that were just a—”

“I don’t care, all right?” she cut in brusquely. “But if I have to suffer the humiliation of seeing you like that, then I should be compensated.”

“I’m not sure—” He stopped when he noticed that he was being watched.

A girl—probably about fourteen or fifteen—sitting with her parents a few tables over was staring at him, like she was trying to figure out if he was who she thought he was. He looked away quickly and held up his hand to his face, pretending he had to scratch an itch on his cheek.

“What’s going on?” Grace asked as Finn lowered his head.

“There’s a girl behind you who was staring at me.” He glanced over at the other table again to check. “She still is.”

“What? Where?” said Grace, who looked back over her shoulder to see.

“Don’t look at her!” he hissed, trying to keep his voice down.

“Oh, come on,” she said when she turned to face him again. “She’s way too young for you.”

“That’s not—I’m not _checking her out_ , okay? She just keeps looking at me! Like she knows.”

“Who cares?”

“I just don’t want to cause a scene in a restaurant,” he said. “Especially not with you, since I know you’d hate that.”

She sat back in her chair with an, “Is that so?” expression on her face, before looking back over her shoulder again. “Hey,” she said loudly towards the girl. “You know who he is, right?”

The girl appeared frightened by this confrontation, as all the people sitting nearby looked first at Grace and then at her.

“That’s right, he’s _Finn Nelson_ ,” Grace added. “And he just so happens to be _my boyfriend_ , so keep your eyes to yourself, skank!”

“Grace!” he said as he tried to rein her in, speaking much quieter than she was. “Just leave her alone.”

“What’s she even doing at a place like this?” said Grace when she turned back towards Finn. “Look at what she’s wearing.”

“Why are you so horrible, sometimes?” he replied, leaning in so he could whisper as people around them watched.

She looked extremely offended. “You think _I’m_ being horrible?” she said without even trying to whisper back. She opened the jewelry box and took the necklace out.

“Grace—”

“If I’m so horrible, then you can keep your stupid necklace,” she added as she broke open the clasp and held it over his half-empty glass of champagne so that the stone would fall into it. Then she threw the chain at his plate and stood up. “Tell your driver we’re leaving; I’m going to wait in the limo while you get the bill for this awful dinner.”

“Wait—” Finn said, trying to grab her hand as she started walking away, but she pulled it free.

“Worst birthday ever!” she yelled and turned on her heel to leave.

He wanted the Earth to swallow him whole at that moment, with everyone staring. Even one of the servers had stopped what he was doing in order to watch, because how could he not. How could any of them not watch?

“You heard her,” Finn snapped at him. “The bill!”

***

“You know what I could really go for right now?” Finn said as he lay on Rae’s bed with her nestled beside him.

“I’m not doing that twice in a row, Finn,” she replied with a hint of annoyance.

“Er, no, that’s not what I was going to say…”

She lifted her head to look at him. “What is it, then? What could you really go for right now?”

“One of your world famous croissants.” He grinned at her.

“And let me guess; you want me to go and fetch it for you.”

“Actually, I was kind of hoping to see the new bakery,” he said seriously.

“Oh, yeah. I forgot. I sort of thought you’d already been here since we set it up.”

“You must be thinking of your other celebrity boyfriend.”

“Right. Well, we can’t go down there like this, now, can we?” she added, patting him on his bare chest patronizingly.

“Ugh, so many rules,” he groaned as she sat up and started picking up clothes off the floor.

She tossed his boxers at him and he caught them before they hit him in the face.

“Gee, thanks.”

Once they were both dressed and presentable enough to be seen by the patrons of this establishment, Finn followed Rae out of her family’s half of the house, through the B&B kitchen, past the dining room, and across the front entrance to where the sitting room used to be.

It had been converted into a small bakery storefront, of sorts, with a display case full of pastries and two small tables by the window for customers to sit and eat, if they so desired. It was empty at the time, though, except for Mrs. Bouchtat sitting near the display case, tapping her foot impatiently.

“Rae, good, you got my text,” she said when she saw the two of them walk in.

“Er, no, I didn’t,” said Rae.

“Look, Karim’s still out getting the shopping, and I’ve got to go get room three set up for the guests coming in an hour, so I need you to take care of the bakery for a little while.”

“But you said I could have the day off!”

“Rae, the bakery is supposed to be your responsibility,” said Mrs. Bouchtat as she stood up. “I was doing you a favour to run it for the morning, but I have my own job to do. It’s only open for another hour, anyway!”

“Ugh, fine!”

She looked at Finn and her expression softened. “Oh, hi, love,” she said, like she was surprised to see him there.

“Hi, Mrs. Bouchtat,” he replied as she squeezed him on the shoulder and walked past him towards the stairs.

Rae sighed once her mother was gone, leaning against the display case of pastries. “I guess that puts a little damper on our day together,” she said.

“It’s only for an hour,” said Finn, and walked over to one of the small tables. “I can sit here and watch you run a mini bakery for an hour.”

“I suppose…”

“I wasn’t joking about that croissant, though.”

She sighed again and went behind the display case so she could take out a croissant and put it on a plate for him. “Here,” she said as she dumped it onto the table in front of him.

“Ooh, such service here.”

A small bell dinged at the front door when it opened, and Rae returned quickly to her spot near the display case. A middle-aged couple walked in, followed by a teenage girl who was staring so intently at her phone that she nearly tripped over the threshold into the former sitting room. Finn watched in amusement as the couple argued over whether to get the mini chocolate tarts or the lemon ones.

“Well, they’re your parents,” the woman said to her husband. “And you know your mother’s just going to hate whatever I pick, so you might as well be the one who decides.”

“Let’s just get some of each, then!” he replied, clearly overwhelmed.

“Ivy,” the woman added, looking over at her daughter, “do you want something while we’re here?”

The girl looked up from her phone for a second to glance at the display case and shrugged.

“Well, if you want something, pick, otherwise we’re leaving and you get nothing.”

She heaved an overdramatic sigh and rolled her eyes, catching a glimpse of Finn sitting by the window before doing a double-take. She slowly turned and looked at him with her eyes wide, and he felt like a deer caught in headlights. She looked down at her phone again for a second and back at him, and then turned it around to show him her lock screen.

Of course, it just had to be a photo of him. There wasn’t any chance that she could be the only teenage girl in the world who didn’t know who he was, no.

He smiled apologetically at her. He didn’t know what he was supposed to do, or what she might do. Scream? Cry? Pass out? He’d seen it all before.

“Oh my god!” she squealed, and everyone looked at her. “Y—You—You’re—” She pointed at her phone screen emphatically.

He let out a nervous chuckle.

“What—What are you doing here?” she added as she started to close the distance between them.

“Oh, you know,” he said, holding up his plate. “Best croissants in the UK, right?”

“Ivy, what are you doing?” said her mother.

Ivy chose to ignore her. “Can I get a photo with you?” she asked Finn.

“Er, yeah, sure…” He felt extremely awkward having a photo taken with her while her parents stared at him in confusion, though, especially when he did his classic arm-around-her-shoulder pose that the fans always liked so much. “I’m, er, kinda famous, so…” he said to them as way of explanation once she’d taken the photo on her phone.

“Hold on, is he the one from the posters all over your room?” her father asked her.

“Dad!” she said, as if that were an embarrassing fact for him to share—which it probably was. She looked back at Finn and added, “Can I ask you a question?”

“I s’pose…” said Finn.

“So, I started reading that book that came out about you—Oh, hey, it’s called _About You_ ; that’s funny. Anyway, I read the first chapter about how you met Grace—She’s so pretty, by the way! Did you see her on the cover of that magazine—Er, which one was it again? Anyway, that’s not my question. I was wondering, was she really working at a McDonald’s when you met her?”

“Yes…”

“That’s so weird, because I work at a KFC, and—”

“Leave him alone, Ivy,” her mother said as she ushered Ivy to come back to her, and then turned to Finn and added, “Sorry about that.”

“No worries,” he said.

“Come on,” she said to her daughter, “we’re leaving.”

“Wait,” Ivy replied, “can I get a croissant?”

***

“You didn’t have to storm out like that,” Finn said to Grace once he’d left the restaurant and gotten into the backseat next to her.

“Oh, I’m sorry,” she replied sarcastically. “Did I cause too much of a _scene_ for you?”

“What is your problem?”

“My problem is that my own boyfriend can’t even give me his full attention on my birthday _,_ of all days!” she said.

“I was giving you my full attention!” he argued. “What did you think I was doing?”

“You were too distracted by that little wannabe ho-bag to even carry on a conversation with me!”

“As I recall, we were just discussing which presents you want next, so…”

“And that’s not important enough, is it?”

Finn groaned and ran his hand through his hair in frustration. “Do you still want to go out tonight, or should I take you home?”

“It’s my eighteenth birthday, Finn,” she said. “We’re going out and you’re buying me as many drinks as it takes for me to forget how annoyed I am at you.”

“Look, I’m sorry for getting distracted while we were having a conversation. I was just afraid that that girl was going to try and come talk to me, and I know how much you hate that, so I was nervous.” He reached out for her hand. “But, you’re right, I should have just ignored it and enjoyed the evening with you.”

“Yeah, you should have.”

“It’s not too late, though, is it?” he said, picking up her hand to kiss the back of it. “How about we go to The Shadowbox now, and then tomorrow I’ll go get you that bag you wanted, okay?”

“…And you’ll get me a replacement necklace?”

He took a deep breath so that he wouldn’t say the first thing that came to mind. “Yes,” he replied calmly. “I’ll get you whatever you want, girl.”


	3. Chapter 3

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Finn and Rae both seem to have come a long way in their understanding of love.

Grace’s eyes lit up when Finn returned from his bedroom carrying a large box enclosed with a ribbon and handed it to her.

“Happy belated birthday, girl,” he said, sitting down on the sofa next to her as she tore through the ribbon to open the box right away.

“Ooh!” she squealed when she saw the Louis Vuitton dust-bag inside. She carefully removed the handbag from within, held at arm’s length to stare at it for a moment, and then clutched it to her chest. “It’s perfect! Thank you, thank you, thank you!”

Finn laughed and said, “Open it.”

Puzzled, she opened the bag’s flap to find a small velvet box in the main compartment. “Aww, you replaced it,” she said, holding up the necklace that was inside.

“And that’s not all,” he added as he produced another small box from his pocket.

“There’s more?” she asked in surprise when he handed it to her. She opened the lid and grinned. “It’s the YSL ring I wanted! But when did you—?”

“I picked it up for you a while ago, actually, and I was going to save it for our anniversary,” he said, “but I felt bad about last night and thought it might cheer you up.”

She continued smiling as she slid the oversized statement ring onto her finger. “It’s working,” she replied as she gazed at it on her hand.

“Good. ‘Cos I’m sorry for ruining your birthday.”

“It wasn’t all your fault,” she added, setting her gifts aside. “I mean, I know that you’re going to look at other girls—“

“I was not _looking_ at her that way—”

She held her hand to his mouth to stop him. “—And I know that girls are going to look at you,” she continued. “And when we’re apart, I know that things are going to happen. I accept this. I just get a little jealous sometimes because… Well, because I love you, Finn.” She lowered her hand, but he picked it up and brought it to his lips again.

“I love you, too, girl.”

***

“You told her that you loved her?” Rae asked as she rolled out the dough for the following day’s croissants.

“I didn’t mean it, though!” Finn replied, sitting across the island from her.

“So you were just lying to her?”

“Not exactly…”

“Which is it, Finn? Did you mean it or were you lying?”

“Neither,” he said. “I didn’t mean it, and I wasn’t lying.”

“I don’t see how—”

“I thought I meant it at the time, but looking back, it wasn’t real. It was just, like, a Stockholm Syndrome thing.”

“Ah, yes, I forgot she was holding you hostage,” Rae quipped.

“I thought that’s what love was, at the time!” he added. “Being with someone not because you enjoy spending time with them but because the idea of being alone sounds so much worse.”

She stopped folding pastry and looked at him sadly. “I suppose I understand…”

***

“Do you want to do something with me next Saturday?” Rae asked while she pulled her denim skirt up over her leggings.

“I dunno,” said Malcolm, clearly texting someone on his phone as he sat on the edge of his bed in his underwear. “I might have plans that day.”

“We should at least spend some of the day together,” she said.

“Why?” he asked, bored.

“Because it’s our anniversary.”

He finally looked up at her. “Our what?”

“We’ve been dating for a year, so I thought maybe we should do something to celebrate,” she added.

“Well, like I said, I might have plans that day.”

She put her hands on her hips. “What plans?”

“I don’t know yet; I said I _might_ have plans.”

“You’re waiting to see if you get a better offer?”

“It’s not like you own me,” he said, like he was the one who should be offended. “I don’t have to be at your beck and call, day or night.”

“What? I never said—!” she began, outraged, before he stood up and put his hands on her shoulders.

“Fine, Rae, chill out,” he said. “Look, I think anniversaries are stupid, but if it means that much to you, then we can do something that day, all right?”

She nodded and he pulled her in for a hug, which surprised her. As she squeezed him back, she felt oddly comforted. “I think… I think I love you,” she said into his shoulder.

“Oh,” he replied, loosening his hold on her. “Thanks, I guess.”

***

“I just realized something,” Finn said as Rae drove him back to Stamford in the evening. “Today is the two-year anniversary of when we met, properly.”

“Oh,” she replied. “Huh.”

“We should have done something special today.”

“We spent the day together; is that not special enough?”

He smiled and reached over to squeeze the top of her leg reassuringly. “You know that it’s not,” he teased.

“Besides,” she continued, “the anniversary of the day we met is not that big a deal. We didn’t even like each other then.”

“I liked you fine.”

She cast him a sceptical glance.

“All right, I thought you were a little abrasive at first, but I was kind of into it.”

“Well, I didn’t like you then.”

“Come on, girl,” he said. “I know you secretly had a crush on me the moment you met me.”

“I did not!” she said with a laugh.

“Admit it, Rae. It was love at first sight for you.”

“Who do you think you are? Wade Hart?”

“Ouch.”

“Don’t worry, Finn,” she added. “You’re still my favourite person. But he’s my favourite _celebrity_.”

“I’m a celebrity, though.”

“Yeah, I know.”

***

“Oh my god, I hate you, Finn!” Grace shouted, slamming her Louis Vuitton handbag onto the kitchen island as she stormed into Finn’s flat ahead of him.

“Grace, please—” Finn grabbed her by the arm to stop her from walking away.

“Let go of me!” she screamed.

He raised his hands in the air in surrender. “Just chill out, all right?”

“Don’t tell me to chill out! Not after what you did to me!” she said, turning back around to point at him accusingly.

“What? What did I do, this time?”

“You totally embarrassed me, that’s what you did!”

“I embarrassed you? _I embarrassed you_?” he said angrily, taking off his jacket and tossing it to the floor. “You embarrassed yourself!”

“Ugh! I’m so sick of you talking down to me all the time, Finn!”

“I’m not talking down to you—”

“I’m only five months younger than you and yet you treat me like a child sometimes!”

“That’s because you behave like a child sometimes!”

“Oh, is that what I do? Is it? Well, I’m sorry you have to put up with me, then!” she said as she balled her hands up in fists at her sides, like she was about to boil over with rage.

“Would you stop being so dramatic for, like, five seconds?”

She glared at him for a moment before spinning around on the balls of her feet and heading towards the bedroom.

“Where are you going?” he called after her.

She stopped to look at him again. “I’m going to get my overnight bag so I can leave and go to a hotel for the night, because apparently I’m too _dramatic_ for you!”

“And who’s going to pay for that?” he asked, crossing his arms over his chest.

Seemingly, she only realized at that moment that she didn’t have any way of paying for a hotel room herself. “Fine, I’ll stay,” she added, glowering at him. “But you’re sleeping on the sofa.”

“You don’t get to tell me where I can and cannot sleep in my own flat,” he said as he took a step forward.

“I can if I lock you out,” she said before running back towards the bedroom.

“Don’t you dare—” He ran after her and pressed his hand on the bedroom door to keep her from closing it. He had to ram his shoulder against it to open it enough for him to enter, as she was pushing back on the other side.

She staggered as he forced his way in and backed up towards the other side of the room, so that the bed was between them. “Stay away from me!” she shouted at him.

“What, you think I’m going to hurt you?” he asked hostilely. “Are you really that stupid?”

She let out a scream of frustration and grabbed the closest thing to her, which was a book on the nightstand, to throw at him. It fell short of even coming close to hitting him, but he suspected that wasn’t actually her intention.

“What the fuck?” he said as he walked closer to her.

“Stay away, I mean it!” She continued backing up towards the far wall, where she picked up a framed photo from the dresser so she could have something else to throw at him.

Panic struck him when he realized it was a photo of him with his mother, in a frame that she’d given him before she died. “Grace, don’t!” he yelled, leaping over the corner of the bed to get to Grace before she could smash it. He took hold of her arms and wrestled the frame out her hand, setting it back on the dresser clumsily as she fought with him.

“Let go!” she said as he held onto her arms so that she couldn’t keep pounding on his chest with her fists.

“Not until you stop trying to hit me!” He pushed her back against the wall as she struggled against him. “For fuck’s sake, Grace, just stop!” he said, pinning her arms to the wall above her head.

She glared at him for a moment, her chest rising and falling against his with her breath, and then kissed him. It caught him off-guard at first, but he eventually got into it and started kissing her back aggressively. If nothing else, it was better than screaming at each other, he thought.

He kept her arms pinned for a minute as they battled with their mouths, but he soon let go so that he could frantically try to hike her skirt up above her hips. He heard a rip when he accidentally snagged the lace of her underwear while trying to remove it, but just could not bring himself to care as he pulled it down her legs. She opened the top button of his trousers as he fished his wallet out of the pocket for his emergency condom—which he was constantly having to replace.

Holding up her legs, he fucked her against the wall while she clawed at the back of his shirt like she was trying to tear through it. They didn’t say a word to each other, or even look at each other, until it was over and he set her back down.

“Well,” he said, breathing heavily as he straightened his tie, “happy anniversary, I s’pose.”

***

Finn kept fidgeting with the collar of his shirt, trying to get it to sit flat over his tie, on the car ride to the television studio.

“Stop fussing with it,” said Ms. Turner without looking up from her phone as she sat next to him. “You’ll get it wrinkled.”

“It’s bugging me,” Finn whined as he tried loosening his tie to see if it would help.

Ms. Turner set her phone down for a second and added, “Are you five years old?”

“You know I hate being on TV,” he said, finally giving up on adjusting his neckline.

“And I hate babysitting a petulant pop star, but sometimes we have to do things we hate as part of our jobs.” She smirked at him, and it was the first manifestation of levity he’d ever seen from her.

“I could have you fired, you know,” he said jokingly.

“I’d like to see you try.”

Once he’d made it to the studio, Finn was ushered into the green room and plied with his favourite snacks and drinks, as if that made the experience of appearing on television any more pleasant.

He wasn’t quite sure why he hated going on TV so much. It wasn’t stage fright; after this many years, he was used to speaking and performing in front of lots of people. It just seemed so fake to him. His interview could be edited to make him say anything, and he had no control over it. The first time he was here, on _The Gavin Price Show_ , his response to one question was cut to make it seem like had to think of the answer for a really long time, even though it was only a second in reality. It made him look a bit simple.

“Remember,” Ms. Turner told him, “play the song, plug the tour, and don’t forget to mention that there are tickets still available for some dates. And if he asks about the book, change the subject. Got it?”

Finn gave her a half-hearted thumbs up before a production assistant came to fetch him and lead him to the set. His band was already on the dark stage, ready to go, as he took his place behind the microphone.

“Coming up tonight we’ll be talking to Wade Hart and Paulina Mallory about their new film, _The Unlovables_ ,” said the host of the show, Gavin Price, to his audience. “But first on the docket we have BRIT Award-winner and international pop sensation, Finn Nelson, here to perform his latest single, ‘Silhouettes!’”

The stage was suddenly illuminated, nearly blinding Finn for a moment. He squinted until he was able to see clearly again, as the guitarist played the opening riff, causing a few cheers. He smiled out at the audience, whom he couldn’t see from the light in his eyes, and picked up the microphone in preparation for his cue.

After bopping his head at the introduction of the bouncy keyboard, he began, “On this summer night, the air is warm but we are cold. And even though you hold me tight, it won’t stop us from growing old. And I can feel my breath, reminding me of death, and every lie I’ve told.

“We are nothing more than silhouettes. Fading into dark as the sun sets. Tracing the outlines of our regrets. We are nothing more than…”

He set the microphone back in its stand and started clapping his hands over his head, encouraging the audience to join in, for the final verse.

“On the radio, our song is playing one last time. I can’t remember how it goes, but you can sing it line for line. And I can feel the beat, it makes us move our feet, and I know we’ll be fine.

“We are nothing more than silhouettes. Fading into dark as the sun sets. Tracing the outlines of our regrets. We are nothing more than...

“We are nothing more than silhouettes. Fading into dark as the sun sets. Tracing the outlines of our regrets. We are nothing more than silhouettes.”

The song ended abruptly and he took a small bow to a round of uproarious applause.

“Wasn’t that something?” Gavin said loudly as he ushered Finn to come sit with him. “Come on over, Finn. Let’s have a chat.”

Finn smiled politely as he jogged over to the seating area of the set and sat down on the purple mid-century-looking sofa next to the host’s chair.

“Finn Nelson, ladies and gentleman!” Gavin said to the audience, gesturing at Finn before turning to him and adding, “It’s great to have you back, Finn.”

“It’s great to be back, Gavin,” said Finn, hoping the grin on his face looked sincere. (He was experiencing a little rush from the performance that definitely lifted his mood.)

“Now, can we just talk about that song you played for a second?” Gavin asked. “‘Silhouettes’ is the third single off your latest album, _Grow Up_ , which came out last November.”

“Correct.”

“It’s such a great song,” he continued. “And I think part of it is that the music is so catchy and uplifting, but meanwhile the lyrics are, well, kind of depressing, don’t you think?”

“I don’t know if I’d say _depressing_ ,” Finn replied with a chuckle.

Gavin looked down at the cards in his hands and read, “We are nothing more than silhouettes. Fading into dark as the sun sets. Tracing the outlines of our regrets.” He looked back over at Finn. “That’s depressing.”

The audience laughed.

“Yeah, but the last verse ends with, ‘I know we’ll be fine,’” said Finn. “So there’s some hope in there.”

“In any case, it’s a fantastic song, as is the rest of the album, Finn.”

“Thanks.”

“And may I just say that you look positively dapper today?” Gavin added, nodding towards Finn’s outfit.

Finn laughed modestly. “I wish I could take credit, but a stylist told me to wear this,” he said, adjusting his tie.

“Well, it’s working for you.”

“Thanks, Gavin, but I have a girlfriend,” he said jokingly as he leaned against the armrest in what he hoped was a casual manner.

“Is that so?”

“Er… No comment,” he added, which made everyone laugh.

“Well, speaking of girlfriends,” said Gavin, shuffling through his cards, “your ex-girlfriend has recently released a little book about you, fittingly titled, _About You_.”

There were some chuckles from the audience.

“Yes, she did,” said Finn, crossing his legs uneasily. “I also have some tour dates coming up in a few weeks; we could talk about that instead.”

“Of course, of course, the tour.” Gavin switched his cards around again and read off the top one. “You’ve got a couple dates in the UK next month and then you hit the Americas. Wonderful. Now, about that book—”

“There are some tickets still available, too!” Finn cut in. “If you go to my website, you can see which dates still have—”

“Yes, yes, we’ll have a link under this episode online so people can check that out,” said Gavin, waving his hand dismissively. “But I think what we all really want to know is, is it true?”

“Is what true?”

“The whole book!”

“I, erm—Honestly, I haven’t read it yet,” Finn replied sheepishly.

“You haven’t?”

“I know some people who have read it, though, and they seem to think it checks out, for the most part.”

Gavin appeared delighted by this. “Really?”

“Yeah, well, I’ve done some things I’m not super proud of, Gavin.”

“Is this one of the things you’re not super proud of?” he said, indicating for Finn to take a look in the monitor in front of him, which was displaying a black and white photo of him trying to drink from a shot glass that was wedged in some young woman’s bosom.

“Oh my god, where did you get that?” Finn asked as he covered part of his face with his hands.

The audience cracked up.

“From the book!” said Gavin.

“That’s in the book?” Finn could feel himself turning red.

More laughter.

“I’m just saying,” Gavin added, “if this photo doesn’t make you want to read it, then I don’t know what will.”


	4. Chapter 4

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> As Finn’s popularity skyrockets, he’s forced to recognize just how much of a jerk he used to be.

“Up next we have the costars of the new film, _The Unlovables_ , which opens in theatres across the country next weekend,” said Gavin Price, host of _The Gavin Price Show_. “Please welcome Wade Hart and Paulina Mallory!”

Finn rose from his seat and started applauding as Wade and Paulina made their way onto the set. He shook Wade’s hand—with a bro pat on the shoulder—and gave Paulina a polite hug and two cheek-kisses before sitting back down, now on the far end of the sofa, next to Paulina.

“What a good-looking sofa we have here tonight, don’t we, ladies and gentlemen?” Gavin said to the audience, who were cheering for the new arrivals. He turned back towards his guests. “So good to have you this evening, all of you!”

“Thanks for having us, Gavin,” said Wade.

“Can I just say, before we get started, how happy I am to be here tonight?” said Paulina.

“Thank you, that’s very nice to hear,” said Gavin.

“I mean, I just got to hug Finn Nelson!” she added. “That is a check off the ol’ bucket list, for sure.”

Everyone laughed.

“Seriously, sitting beside him right now, my inner teenager is having a bit of a fangirl moment,” she said, fanning her face with her hands.

“Do you need a glass of water right now?” Gavin asked. “Or a cold shower?”

She laughed and looked over at Finn next to her. “Sorry, this is probably making you feel weird.”

“It’s fine,” he said with a chuckle.

“Don’t worry, Paulina,” said Gavin. “He’s used to it by now.”

Everyone laughed again.

“Then again, he’s also used to doing tequila shots out of a woman’s cleavage,” he added.

Paulina raised her hand and said, “I’d volunteer for that,” before giggling and covering her face in embarrassment. “Oh, god, I think I had too much wine backstage! I don’t know what I’m saying.”

“She’s lying,” said Wade. “She doesn’t even drink.”

“That’s true, I don’t. Because I tend to make enough of a fool of myself while sober,” she added, and patted Finn on the knee. She stopped suddenly when she realized what she was doing, but then clamped her hand on his leg and squeezed. “Whatever, I’m just going for it now. YOLO, right?”

“He has a girlfriend, you know,” Gavin told her in a stage whisper.

“Yeah, he does now,” said Paulina, nestling up to Finn, who just laughed about it, because what else was he supposed to do?

“We’ve actually been together for almost two years, now,” said Finn.

She sat upright and looked at him again. “Have we?” she teased, and he laughed again.

“Sorry, I mean my other girlfriend.”

“Is she here tonight?” Gavin asked, looking out into the audience.

“Heh, no, she couldn’t make it tonight,” said Finn. “But I know she’ll be watching, because Wade’s her favourite actor.”

“Really?” said Wade, leaning forward in his seat so he could see Finn across Paulina.

“Yeah. She says, and I quote, that you’re the sexiest guy on the planet.”

Wade smiled like that surprised him. “Well, that’s flattering.”

“Hold on a minute,” Paulina interjected. “She’s dating Finn Goddamn Nelson, and she thinks _this_ dork is the sexiest guy on the planet?” she added, placing her hand on Wade’s leg now.

Finn laughed and shrugged.

“Come on, now, Paulina,” said Gavin. “They’re both very handsome lads, are they not?”

“Have you seen him at five in the morning after three hours of sleep and no product in his hair?” she said as she gave Wade’s leg a shake. “Showing up on set every morning was a rude awakening for me.”

“Trust me, I’m no prize at five in the morning either,” said Finn.

“Oh, please, honey,” Paulina said to him. “You could wear a burlap sack and I’d still want to shag your lights out.”

“That sounds a bit scratchy, doesn’t it?” Gavin joked.

“I’m just saying, your girlfriend is very lucky, Finn,” she added.

***

Finn was fast asleep when there came a knock on his hotel room door. He chose to ignore it, preferring to keep sleeping off the previous night’s rowdiness. He figured it was probably just Ms. Turner coming to check on him and make sure he wasn’t still asleep, anyway, and he didn’t care.

He went back to sleep, and didn’t notice anything else until he heard humming coming from the bathroom a minute later. Groggily, he pried his eyes open just as a young woman appeared from around the corner, where the door and bathroom were, carrying a stack of clean sheets.

“Oh my goodness!” she said as soon as she saw him lying there. She was clearly startled. “I’m so sorry! There was no sign on the door, and the chain wasn’t on, and I knocked, but there was no answer, so I didn’t know that anyone was in here—”

“Wait, what’s happening?” said Finn, feeling a bit disoriented.

“I’m from housekeeping. I’m here to change the sheets,” she explained shyly. “I’m really sorry, it’s my first week and I don’t—”

“It’s all right,” he cut in. “It’s my own fault for forgetting to put the sign up last night—er, this morning. I think. What time is it?”

“It’s two-thirty in the afternoon.”

“And what day is it?”

She laughed a little. “Wednesday.”

“Oh, bugger. I was hoping I’d slept through Wednesday.”

“Sorry.”

“Yeah, well…”

“Anyway, I can come back later—”

“No, I can get out of bed if you want to do it now,” he said. “That way you don’t have to circle back.”

“I don’t mind.”

He started to sit up. “No, really, I can get up now—”

“Oh my!” she said, covering her eyes with her hand. “You’re…”

It took him a minute to realize why she was doing that, but then he looked down and figured it out. He quickly took his own sheets and held them up around himself. “Sorry about that,” he said. “I forgot I wasn’t wearing anything.”

“Don’t worry about it,” she replied, taking a cautious peek through her fingers.

“I suppose this will make a funny anecdote about your first week at work, though, right?” he said.

“I guess,” she said with a small laugh.

“What’s your name, by the way?”

“Um, Kara…”

“Nice to meet you, Kara. I’m Finn.”

“Nice to meet you, too…” she replied hesitantly. She chewed on her thumbnail for a second before adding, “I know this is a bit weird, but just have to say, I love your accent. You’re from England, right?”

“Heh, yeah.”

“I’m a total anglophile,” she continued.

He smiled at her. “Then I guess today’s your lucky day…”

***

“So, did you hear that Paulina Mallory thinks you’re very lucky?” Finn said to Rae, video chatting with her as he lay on his sofa with his laptop balanced on his knees.

“I did hear that, yes,” she replied. “She, however, got to make out with Wade Hart for that stupid movie, so I guess we’re even.”

“Stupid movie, eh? So does that mean you don’t want to go see it?”

“Are you kidding me? It’s _Wade Hart_. I’m going to watch it fifty times.”

“You’re going to make me watch it fifty times, too, aren’t you?” he asked with a groan of annoyance.

“Well, your new girlfriend’s also in it, so I thought you’d want to watch.”

“Oh, god, that was so embarrassing.”

“More embarrassing than that photo?” said Rae, and he couldn’t tell if she was pissed at him or just teasing.

“Okay, the whole evening was just one giant embarrassment,” he said. “But, I have to admit, it does kind of make me want to read the book…”

“What?”

“I mean, if Gra—er, She Who Shall Not Be Named—included that, what the hell else is in there? I’ve been trying to avoid finding out until now, but I wonder if I just need to bite the bullet.”

***

Based on the ringtone—which she had chosen for him—Finn could tell that it was Grace calling. He that knew he’d promised to talk to her by ten at night, her time, but he’d slept through her first call and it was already nearly eleven for her.

“Hold on, I have to get this,” he said, reaching over to grab his phone from the nightstand.

Kara turned his head to make him face her and kissed him again.

“Mm—I really have to get this,” he added as he pried his lips away from hers so he could answer the phone. “Hey, girl,” he said into the phone. “How’s it going?”

“You were supposed to call me an hour ago,” Grace said impatiently on the other end.

“I know, sorry. I slept in.”

“You slept in until—what time is it there? Quarter to three?”

“Yeah, sorry.” He had to turn his face away from Kara because she kept trying to get him to kiss her back, so instead she started kissing his neck.

“What were you doing last night that would make you sleep in so late?” Grace asked him.

“I had the LA show, and then, er, there was a party at—” He got distracted from what he was saying as Kara made her way down his chest. “At the house… of some guy…”

“What guy?”

“I dunno.”

“Well, who else was there?”

“I don’t, er—I don’t remember…”

Grace sighed out of exasperation. “You’re not supposed to keep secrets from me!”

“I’m not! I just don’t—whoa! …I mean, I don’t… Er, what was I saying?”

“Finn!”

He put his hand on the back of Kara’s head to try and keep her from going any further—he couldn’t exactly tell her to stop—but she just looked up at him with a brazen smile before continuing down his stomach. “What?” he said in response to Grace.

“You’re distracted right now, aren’t you?”

“No, I just—Oh fuck!”

“What? What happened?”

“Nothing,” he replied quickly. “I just, er, remembered something.”

“What is it?”

“Er, it’s not important—” He clenched his jaw shut to keep from making any sort of sound that would give him away, but it didn’t work.

“Finn!” Grace snapped. “Are you masturbating right now?”

“No, er, not exactly…” he said.

“Oh my god, you’re getting off with someone while talking to me!”

“Look, I didn’t mean to—Ah! Oh shit…” He closed his eyes and tried to concentrate on anything to distract him from what Kara was doing, or else he was going to— “Fuuuuck!”

“Jesus, Finn!” said Grace.

“Sorry, but it’s not my fault—”

“Whose fault is it, then?”

He looked down at Kara who lifted her head and smiled at him again. “Nobody…” he said to Grace sheepishly.

“Ugh!” She hung up on him without another word.

He held out his phone and looked at it for a second, making sure the call had ended and she hadn’t just gone quiet, and then dropped it onto the bed. “You,” he said to Kara as she crawled back up beside him, “just got me in a lot of trouble.”

“Well, I’m going to be in trouble if I don’t get back to work soon,” she replied. “So…”

“So…?”

She raised her eyebrows at him expectantly.

“Oh, right! Your turn, I s’pose.”

***

“What the fuck?” Finn said to himself in the middle of reading chapter 26.

He was outraged that Grace had written it so that it seemed like _he_ was the one who chose to call _her_ while some other girl was blowing him. The worst part was that it wasn’t even enough of a lie to be worth a lawsuit.

Despite his anger and frustration, he continued reading until he reached the end of the book and set it down solemnly.

_Was it true?_

She’d been such a terror, yes, but she was still a person, and he treated her like shit most of the time. Even showering her with gifts seemed now like a shallow way of placating her so he didn’t have to address their real issues.

He’d sort of thought that she didn’t have feelings, only drama.

But was it true?

Did he break her heart?

***

“For fuck’s sake, Grace, that’s not going to work this time!” Finn said angrily, pushing Grace away as she tried to kiss him.

“What do you even want me for, then?” she shouted back.

“Maybe I don’t!”

“Excuse me?”

“Maybe I don’t want you!” he repeated, louder this time.

The look of shock on her face quickly flashed to hurt and then ended at rage. She picked up her nearly empty glass and threw it at the kitchen wall where it smashed when it hit the floor.

“What the fuck is wrong with you?” he yelled at her.

“You’re such an asshole, Finn!”

“If I’m such an asshole, then why are you still here?”

“Because I love you, you fucking piece of—”

He grabbed her hands when she started hitting him. “Yeah, well that’s just too fucking bad.”

She gave up trying to strike him as he restrained her. “What does that mean?”

“It means the feeling’s not mutual.”

“What?” she said in a choked off voice.

“I. Don’t. Love. You.” He over-enunciated each word to make sure his message was clear.

She shoved him away and took a few steps back, like she was worried he was going to come after her. “Are you breaking up with me?”

“Yeah, I guess I am,” he said, folding his arms across his chest. “Go pack a bag. I’ll put you up in a hotel for a few days so you can sort out a place to live, and send the rest of your stuff later. Got it?”

“Quit messing around, Finn. It’s not funny.”

“Does it look like I’m joking?”

Glaring at him, she balled up her hands into fists again. “Fine,” she added as she began to storm off towards the bedroom. “I’ll go. But don’t come crying to me when you suddenly realize that I was the best thing that ever happened to you!”

“Don’t worry. I won’t.”

***

Finn was enjoying a relaxed Sunday afternoon in bed, reading, when Rae showed up. “Oh, hey, girl,” he said to her with a confused smile on his face. “I didn’t even know you were here.”

“Sorry, I just let myself in,” she replied.

“No, it’s fine, but I thought I was coming to get you from the railway station.”

“I figured this was easier,” she said, dropping her overnight bag to the floor.

“Well, look at you, navigating London all on your own,” he teased her as he started to get out of bed.

“Hold on, where do you think you’re going, mister?” she asked as she strode over. She pushed him back down by his shoulders and climbed on top of him.

As she kissed him, he ran his hands down the sides of her waist to her hips and squeezed her.

“I’m really glad you’re here, right now,” he said quietly.

“I can tell…”

He laughed a little. “I mean it, though. I’m really, really happy about it.”

“Oh yeah?”

“Yeah.”

“How come?”

“Because,” he said in a more serious tone, “I love you and, more importantly, I like you.”

Her expression turned contemplative as she looked at him. “I like you, too,” she said. Then she smiled and added, “But I forgot, I’m supposed to be mad at you.”

“What for?” he asked with a laugh.

“Well, I assume it’s your fault that my bakery has become overrun with teenage girls buying croissants.”

“Has it?”

“I’ve been noticing a trend the past couple of weeks, where girls will come in about an hour before closing—sometimes the same girls, sometimes new ones—and almost always order croissants, if nothing else, so I was wondering…”

“Wondering what?”

“Did you tweet about my bakery and tell your fans to visit?” she asked, raising an eyebrow in an accusatory manner.

“What? No!” He laughed again. “I mean, you told me you didn’t want me to interfere with your business, so I didn’t, I swear.”

“Then why are you laughing?”

“It’s funny! Isn’t it?” he said. “Besides, my guess is that girl who saw me there told a bunch of people that she had a Sighting and now they’re flocking there to get a Sighting, too.”

“I know I shouldn’t be complaining—business is better than ever—but still, I don’t really feel like I earned it.”

“Nobody would keep coming back to the middle of nowhere on the off-chance of spotting me unless they really liked your baked goods.”

“They might…”

He hugged her around her middle. “You’re being ridiculous. And this is our last night together before I leave, so we shouldn’t spend it fretting over whether or not your increased sales are because of me, right?”

“Yeah, you’re right…”

“You still seem distraught, though.”

She sat up and looked at him. “It’s just… You’re, like, _so fucking famous_ , you know?”

“I s’pose…” he said, though he wasn’t sure where she was going with this.

“Well, I was sort of able to ignore it before, but it’s starting to trickle into my life, and I’m not sure if I can handle it.”

“Rae,” he replied, taking hold of her hands, “I know it’s difficult when you’re not used to it—hell, it’s even difficult when you are—but I think it’s something we’ll have to deal with together if we want to be, well, together.”

“But I don’t know how…” she said.

“Look, if anything, this has had a positive impact, right?” he added. “So just enjoy the fact that your business is burgeoning and ignore the rest of it.”

She scoffed. “That’s easy for you to say. I have to bake twice as many croissants to keep up with the demand!”

“Then maybe it’s time.”

“Time for what?”

He smiled at her and kissed her knuckles. “A change.”


End file.
